Perception
by Darksabre35
Summary: One - shot spin - off of "A Destiny Altered" by An Origami Fish involving the inner musings of one of Fish's original characters, Kadra Bres. During the meeting of "schemers" prior to the campaign to liberate Hutt Space from the Yuuzhan Vong, Kadra thinks about the Jedi Anakin Solo and the deferential treatment the Jedi seem to get from the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances.


**Disclaimer**: I do not own _Star Wars_; it belongs to Disney. All canonical characters mentioned in this fic belong to Disney, and Kadra belongs to An Origami Fish, who has kindly allowed me to borrow her for this story. Even the storyline isn't mine; it was created by An Origami Fish; I am just re - writing the scene from a different character's point of view. All dialogue is taken verbatim from Chapter Thirty - Five of _A Destiny Altered _by An Origami Fish, located at this URL:

s/7551001/35/A-Destiny-Altered

**Author's Note**: I pretty much said everything in the disclaimer, but I _highly _recommend reading _A Destiny Altered _before reading this - it is _so_ totally worth it. This story might not make all that much sense otherwise.

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**~*Perceptions*~**

"Perception can be _everything_...or nothing."

- Elena Vos - Bres, to a thirteen - year - old Kadra Bres

Kadra watched, arms crossed lightly over her chest, sharp dark - brown eyes narrowed slightly, as the meeting of schemers convened.

"Vedo," Jedi Knight Anakin Solo bowed his head politely. "Thank you for hosting us."

The enormous Hutt, reclined on a hover platform with a translator droid next to him (like most Hutts Vedo could understand Basic perfectly but refused to speak any language other than Huttese), murmured approvingly and motioned to the gathered group.

The translator droid quickly translated Vedo's response: "The great Vedo the Hutt welcomes you all and looks forward to the defeat of the Yuuzhan Vong at Nal Hutta. He says that he will provide whatever assistance you need and will help coordinate your forces with that of the Hutt Underground. Until then, the illustrious Vedo will simply sit back and listen to your plans."

Kadra's eyes narrowed. Both the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances and the Hapes Consortium had transacted official contracts with the Hutts, but Kadra still trusted a Hutt about as far as she could throw a Yuuzhan Vong worldship. The Hutt species was eternally prone to backstabbing, and Kadra would bet a considerable amount of credits that Vedo would sell them out to the Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster if the tide turned against them. Anakin Solo was obviously a brilliant young man, but Kadra was still having a difficult time understanding what in the Nine Corellian Hells had possessed the young Knight to ally himself with a species that was _known _throughout the galaxy as one of the most untrustworthy and unethical.

These thoughts obviously didn't occur to the young, dark - haired Jedi Solo, or if they did, he didn't show it, who was smiling amicably at the Hutt. "Great, thank you." He motioned to the chairs, and everyone, Kadra included, took a seat. Anakin, who had remained standing, faced the group, the charming smile of seconds ago having dropped off his face as if it had never existed at all, replaced by a neutral expression and a grim gleam in his eyes that told the skeptical colonel that the young Jedi was certainly wise beyond his years.

"First of all," Anakin began, his Corellian - and - Coruscanti accented voice mostly expressionless," thank you all for coming out here. It's a lot more help than I expected, but we'll definitely need all of you for this to succeed. Gorga the Hutt has gone to Nal Hutta under the pretense of betraying the Jedi, namely me and Jaina, to the commander of Yuuzhan Vong forces in Hutt Space, a Shith'rii Choka, relative to the new Warmaster. We expect him to come out here personally for the honor of capturing Jaina and I."

The gears in Kadra's mind whirled as she took in Anakin's words. She saw instantly that some sort of manipulation must have gone on, that the young Jedi Solo had had more than a bit to do with Gorga running off to Nal Hutta to 'betray' him and his older sister to the Vong Shith'rii Choka that his words indicated. It was also obvious to her that Anakin was planning to draw the Vong fleet out of Hutt Space to Tatooine, but before she could start to say anything, Corellian Jedi Master Corran Horn spoke up.

"So you intend to fight a battle over Tatooine?" Corran's voice was neutral, and Kadra studied him discreetly out of the corner of her eye. Being Corellian - raised herself, she had always rather admired the CorSec officer - turned Jedi, and her perceptive mind and basic intelligence training told her that Corran was duly impressed with Anakin's proposal but didn't want to show it. There had been, in Kadra's opinion, an undue amount of Anakin Solo - media worship in the last while, and a respected Jedi Master such as Corran had to be careful which way he fanned the flames. Anakin - favoritism also seemed rampant in the Jedi ranks, and while she neither knew nor really cared to know the intricacies of Jedi affairs, Kadra guessed that like in any other organization, over - deference to any one protégé would _not_ sit well with some people and, if overdone, _would _cause controversy or even a major schism. Kadra figured that the Jedi didn't need an internal civil war any more than any other non – Vong organization did right about now.

"Better here than in Hutt Space," Anakin nodded. "Also, if we draw the Yuuzhan Vong fleet out of Hutt Space, this allows for the Underground as well as Taan's people on Ylesia more freedom to act."

Kadra, no longer able to contain her desire to see how the Jedi would react to some praise, chose that moment to jump in. "You have already thought this battle out, haven't you?" she commented, adding a whistle for theatrical effect. "The general told me you Solos were impressive."

This was actually true, but Kadra was conveniently neglecting to mention that General Bel Iblis had also said that Solos were officially insane when he said they were impressive - _in the same sentence_, in fact.

Anakin's blue eyes met her cool brown ones for a split second, and Kadra thought she saw understanding flash in his eyes before he modestly inclined his head at her compliment. "Jaina, Jag, Zekk, and Tahiri have helped me refine the plan somewhat. My basic goal is to take out as much of Shith'rii's fleet here as possible and then chase the survivors all the way back to Nal Hutta. Anyone he leaves behind to hold the fort will have trouble from the Hutt Underground and Freed Yuuzhan Vong. Before the month is out, I want to give the Hutts their planet back."

Kadra nearly choked. _Before the month is out? Is that insanely ambitious, or what?_

"Ambitious," the admiral for the Bothan forces clapped his hands in approval. "I must admit I was dubious when Kre'fey informed me of the prowess of the Jedi, but I am convinced now. My forces are most definitely at your disposal, Jedi Knight Solo.

With the initial shock of Anakin Solo's proposed duration for the campaign to retake Hutt Space over - Kadra was a military officer after all – she fought the urge to roll her eyes. _More Jedi butt - kissing. _She was incredibly aware that there were several Jedi in the room, but found that she didn't care if they sensed what she was thinking_. After all, I __**am **__entitled to my opinion, aren't I?_

And as for that Bothan admiral...seriously, who was convinced of the Order's prowess after a few sentences from a charismatic eighteen - year - old? Sure Anakin's plans were brilliant, maybe almost Thrawn - esque brilliant, but there were so many factors and details that could so easily be screwed up. But then, Bothans, from what Kadra knew, tended to be rather fanatical when devoted to something – or someone.

"Thank you," Anakin said, sounding very respectful. "I promise to do my best to keep your people alive, admiral."

_You'd better_, Kadra thought. While she did like Jedi Knight Anakin Solo - enough, anyway, there was a pretty big part of her that balked at the thought of putting her forces under his command, even his command was certainly indirect. He was smart, obviously, and no doubt had more experience than some people got in their entire lifetimes, but he was just so..._young_. There was the fact that calling Anakin 'young' was probably something of a case of the pot calling the kettle black; she was all of twenty - three and had four capital ships - including one of the most powerful Mon Calamari cruisers around - and a proportionately large compliment of various snubfighters under her command. But then she hadn't been making plans to retake entire sectors or had hundreds of thousands of troops under her command when she was eighteen, either.

"Well then," Wes Janson said cheerfully, rubbing his hands together with apparent eagerness, "Let's get started. Remember people, Anakin, his brother and sister, and their friends, are technically still on leave. Let's finish this so that they can enjoy the rest of it _without_ the worry of death."

At that, the hairs on the back of Kadra's neck stood up. "_So that __**they**__ can enjoy the rest of it without the_ worry of death"? _What in the Nine Corellian __**Hells**_?

They were going _to rush off to war_ so the _Jedi _could _get to enjoy their leave_? The various attendees in the meeting were beginning to rise and leave, so Kadra got up as fast as she could without drawing _too _much attention to herself - a 1.76 meter tall girl with fiery red hair was sort of hard _not _to notice - and made a beeline for the nearest door.

She understood more than ever why General Garm Bel Iblis had been so ready to split off from the New Republic after the fall of Coruscant and remained highly averse to the idea of joining forces with the GA. If ever she had needed proof that the Jedi had deferential treatment from the GA, there it was. She knew Wes Janson's reputation as a joker, and knew that he hadn't meant anything by what he said, but his words _infuriated_ her all the same. What about all the _other_ people who had been fighting this war without any leave for the past one, two years? What was so _awesomely_ special about the Jedi that they got to have their butts kissed incessantly and made up half the High Council, the supposedly "mixed" council that ran the GA, despite the fact that they probably numbered less than two hundred in all? Something was _seriously_ wrong here.

Fuming, the angry redhead strode rapidly towards the entrance of Jabba's palace. The interior of Jabba's palace had suddenly grown close and stifling, and she needed some fresh air to clear her head. An angry officer was not one who functioned at her optimal efficiency.

And she was going to kriffing well need to be at optimal efficiency if this plan of Jedi Knight Anakin Solo's was going to be getting underway as soon as it looked like it was going to be.

_End _

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Okay, honestly, how was it? Was it even moderately good, or was it really bad? Please leave me a review and tell me what you think - constructive criticism is more than welcome.

Many thanks once again to An Origami Fish for letting me borrow Kadra Bres for a little peek into her head. Fish was pleasantly ambiguous about Kadra's backstory and true feelings about the Jedi in _A Destiny Altered, _and I thought I would try to elaborate on what I think Kadra feels during the meeting of 'schemers'. Somehow I don't think Kadra would just completely accept the Jedi immediately - after all, she _is _a colonel and is thus pretty well informed, and being the second - in - command of a brilliant general who had split off from the New Republic, I think she would be a bit more critical of the Jedi and the GA than some.

I have more stories about Kadra and a certain Jedi Master in the works, so stay tuned. You can just hit the 'Author Alert' button and be instantly informed whenever a new story of mine goes up.:D


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